On Being Grateful for my Life!

I have been working pretty much non-stop since mid-March, sort of. OK, I have had two weeks off in total since then. I had a week off in-between jobs and recently had a week off for my Birthday.

I am working in areas I have never worked before. I have done some work for social services, and I am currently working in a Nursing Home. Although different, there are many similarities. What they do have in common is extremely low pay. However, I am not complaining as it means I don’t have to tap into my savings as much. I am really enjoying my current assignment. I really wanted to leave the first day. There was no-one to hand over and I didn’t have a clue where to start or what to do. But then I stared into space for about 5 minutes and ping, I had a brain wave and called the head office. Within 3 weeks I was down with all of the financial stuff. Each day got better. It was one step at a time.

I was actually offered the post that I am in, but it really isn’t financially viable long-term. I make marginally more than what they are actually paying and one days wages out of five pays for my petrol. I wouldn’t mind this job if it was nearer to home as it takes me a long time to drive to work. In the meantime, I have owned the job and am getting everything ready for when the new lady starts.

My colleagues are also amazing women, and men (but there are mostly women). I am going to miss them when I leave. However, I feel that I have made some nice friends, and that is always a good thing. I also have some very good references!

Since I have worked for the Nursing Home, a couple of the residents have passed away. The main part of my job is administration, so I very rarely have anything to do with the residents. I have only spoken to a handful. Most of the residents are not very mobile or they are confined to their rooms. Saying that, it is still very sad when someone passes on. It is the family that really suffers afterwardes. Unfortunately, there is only one way that the residents are going to leave. In the time until then, the staff try to make things as nice as possible for them. The chef makes lovely food. Who cares about calories at this stage of life? It might be the only nice thing to experience before they go. I was worried about what type of Nursing Home I was going to be working in, but this place is really lovely.

Working in a place like this makes you think and puts many things into perspective. I have huge admiration for the nurses and carers. They work long hours and do a sometimes thankless job. The managers are doing their best to make sure that everything is running smoothly without losing focus on customer care. My job is to make sure that all the finances and administration processes are up to speed. I am afraid that there is still a lot of catching up to do in this area, but we are getting there.

If there are some down sides, I try not to think about them, after all, I am only temporary and am working on being grateful for what I have, which is a lot. Hopefully, something better will come after this. It usually does. This job does put things into perspective and I am grateful that I still have my health and don’t have to rely on others to look after me.

I just have to tell my kids to start saving up as it isn’t cheap to put your parent into a home. 🙂

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